The Shitty Background Investigation

By Brian Willingham

Guide to Hiring a Private Investigator

Black death? Influenza? There’s a new, much more dangerous plague affecting a small group of Americans. A fast-spreading disease has affected the private investigation industry called SBI, short for Shitty Background Investigation.

To the best of my knowledge this has not affected our firm, but I know it exists because I have seen it with my own eyes.

And it’s frightening.

On February 10, 2018, at zero eight hundred hours, I came across four reports that suffered from SBI. These were provided by a law firm that had been recently retained by a prominent Florida businessman. The Florida businessman, working with another law firm, had retained an investigative firm to conduct a comprehensive, exhaustive public record and open record background investigation on some opponents in a high-stakes legal battle. These people were unaware that they were the subject of an inquiry against them, and overt investigation — such as surveillance and interviews — was out of the question at this point.

The Florida businessman was not expecting to find a serial killer among the ranks of the opponent, but he wanted to know everything he could about them before figuring out how he wanted to proceed. Money was not really an object; there were …read more

Source:: Pry-Eye